Dan Vivoli, EVP marketing at Nvidia is out

We got personal confirmation that Dan Vivoli is leaving Nvidia at the end of the year. He is a true Nvidia veteran who took good care of Nvidia’s well oiled marketing machine for years. The first time we met Dan was at the Brussels Geforce 4 launch in 2002 and last time we had a chance to unofficially speak to him was just over a month ago at Nvidia headquarters.

Dan was on a leave last year on a personal matter and he returned as a part time employee for the better part of 2013. It is clear that Jensen needs more than just a part timer in this position, especially now when Nvidia is trying to become a player in etail and retail market with tablets, Shield and who knows what next, phones probably.

Dan said he had mixed emotions about leaving the company he invested so many years in. It is hard to say goodbye to company that he personally helped grow from 80 to 9,000 employees. At one point his name even popped up in conversation as a potential future CEO of Nvidia, as a possible successor to replace Jensen, but obviously this is out of the picture with Vivoli’s retirement.

Dan is staying on board until the end of Nvidia's fiscal year which is late January 2014. Last year Nvidia's fiscal year finished Jan. 27, 2013 which can give you an idea when this fiscal year ends.

Dan Vivoli was always passionate about Nvidia and the industry in general. We remember him getting on the stage on a Harley Davidson bike with Alan Tique and having Nvidia tattoo shows, showing just how much of his life dedicated to Nvidia.

He will be hard to replace. Nvidia’s marketing juggernaut always seemed to be able to weather the storm and win the attention of the press even when the product they were introducing was not great. That was the real power of Nvidia0s and Dan Vivoli’s marketing drive.

We wish him all the best and hope he will enjoy his occasional nine-hole golf challenge with his old ex-SGI and ex-ATI friend Dave Orton.

Dan is one of many high profile executives to leave Nvidia this year, as we mentioned in this piece here.